Impact of Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation on jujube juice: Insights from intelligent sensory evaluation, tolerance index, and acidogenic potential

Abstract

The selection of strains is very important to the odor, taste and nutrition of lactic acid fermentation products. In this study, 108 strains of L. plantarum selected by the laboratory were used to ferment jujube juice, and a large sample experiments was used to reveal the effects of L. plantarum on the sensory quality of fermented jujube juice. Among them, the color mainly affects the brightness and yellow-blue color of jujube juice, odor mainly affects the content of methane, ethanol, nitrogen oxides, and sulfides, and taste mainly affects the basic texture of jujube juice. LP44 strain was screened by multivariate statistical analysis of tolerance, acid production and sensory quality. The API 50CH reagent strip was used to analyze the carbon source spectrum of LP44. It was found that LP44 cannot utilize five-carbon sugars such as xylose and ribose, but it can utilize 22 common carbon sources, especially fructose and glucose, which are plentiful in jujube. Therefore, LP44 strain is very suitable for fermentation of jujube juice, and the fermented jujube juice is bright yellow in color, abundant in aromatic compounds, with strong jujube odor, and prominent sourness and umami. Finally, we named LP44 as LP -CWC-Zao for subsequent studies. • L. plantarum strain significantly affect the color, odor and taste of jujube juice. • LP -CWC-Zao is the most suitable L. plantarum strain for jujube juice fermentation. • LP -CWC-Zao can adapt to the high-sugar and high-acid environment of the jujube juice. • LP -CWC-Zao fermented jujube is bright yellow in color, rich in odor, sweet and sour.